JESUS’ NEW COMMUNITY!
Luke 6:27-36
Introduction: In his sermon
"Loving Your Enemies," Martin Luther King, Jr., said: When Abraham
Lincoln was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran
all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of unkind things.
And sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his
looks, saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as
the president of the United States." …
Finally,
one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.… Then came
the time for him to choose a secretary of war. He looked across the nation, and
decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And when Abraham Lincoln
stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they said to him: "Mr.
Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about
you? Do you know what he has done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has
tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read
all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?"
Abraham
Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yeah. I know
about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the
country, I find that he is the best man for the job."
Mr.
Stanton did become secretary of war; and…later, Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will discover that one of the
greatest words or statements ever made about Abraham Lincoln was by this man Stanton.
As Abraham Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and sobbingly said:
"Now he belongs to the ages." And he made a beautiful statement
concerning the character and the stature of this man.”[1]
If
Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything
Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would not have transformed and redeemed Stanton.
Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and Lincoln would have
gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through love and forgiveness Abraham
Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.
In
an era of “hate speech politics,” increased mistrust and hatred of one another,
we need good examples to follow. Abraham Lincoln modeled what it is not to be
consumed by vengeance and unforgiveness instead how to love our enemies. Where
are the Abraham Lincolns and Martin Luther King Jr’s of today? In our study
from the Gospel of Luke we are going to deal with a difficult subject, which in
my opinion many evangelical Christians, including some of my clergy friends try
to brush aside. All believers who belong to Jesus’ New Community, must wrestle
with, and understand His at times uncomfortable teachings and emulate them in
our society.
After
successfully withstanding the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, Jesus
began His public ministry. The first thing he did was to form a community of
followers who would be different than the rest of the world, who would live by
a heavenly set of values and principles. Jesus spent a whole night on the
mountain in prayer. When the day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve
of them, whom He also named as “Apostles.”
He
came down from the mountain along with his newly appointed apostles and other
disciples. Crowds were eagerly waiting at the bottom of the mountain. They came
from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts
of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear Jesus and be healed of their diseases.
Jesus healed everyone.
Then
he turns to his disciples, and the crowds and delivers a speech on the nature
of the Kingdom of God how are its citizens should behave on the earth. We read about it
from Vs 20-26, which is popularly called, “The beatitudes.” From Vs 27, we see Jesus
laying down certain specific instructions to all those who now are part of his
New Community. Vs 27“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your
enemies! Do good to those who hate you.”
I. LOVE
YOUR ENEMIES?
Whenever
Jesus wanted people to pay close attention to what he was saying he would use
phrases such as: “who are willing to listen.” “Who has ears let him hear,”
“Truly, truly I say unto you” etc. The concept of “loving your enemies and do
good to those who hate you,” was not one of the considerations for the law-abiding
Jewish community. According to the law of retaliation, it was “life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand foot for foot” and so on (Ex 21:23) Can you imagine what the world would look like if
that law of retaliation is strictly followed? As Mahatma Gandhi noted, “An eye
for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Unfortunately, in Iran and other
Islamic countries they still follow this law.
In
Jesus’ New Community he repudiates that notion. Matthew (5:38-42). “You have
heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an
eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If
someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.” In Luke 6:27
Jesus introduced a better way of handling conflicts and dealing with our
enemies by saying, “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.”
When
last time did, we hear our politicians using this revolutionary concept?
Instead they incite more violence with their hate speech and bigotry. They
encourage people to fight back. Martin Luther King Jr noted, “Love is the only
thing that can turn an enemy into a friend.”
The
following scriptures teach us the kind of attitude we should have towards our
enemies: Job 31:29-30 “Have I ever
rejoiced when disaster struck my enemies, or become excited when harm came
their way? No, I have never sinned by cursing anyone or by asking for revenge.”
Proverbs
24:17-18, “Don’t
rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble. For the Lord
will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.”
In
Matthew 5:43-44 we read Jesus’ words, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love
your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for
those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of
your Father in heaven.” For a true child of God when it comes to dealing with
his or her enemies the only option is to love them in return.
Jesus
further explains what loving our enemies would look like. Vs 28-30, “Bless
those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If
someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands
your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when
things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back.” It is tough
teaching isn’t it?
These verses tell us some of the
ways we can show love to our enemies is by doing good to them, blessing them,
praying for them and being generous towards them.
In
a recent Superbowl opening night interview Tom Brady was asked a question by an
eight-year-old young fan. Question: How do you focus despite negative fans —
a.k.a. the haters?
Brady: “We love ‘em. We love ‘em
back. Because we don’t hate back... We appreciate them and wish them all the
best.” What a great advice we can give to our young children!
How
do we understand, “if someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also?”
Our natural tendency would be to punch them back on their face. But in Jesus’
New Community we are taught to respond differently. We could take slapping on
the cheek very literally, and when that actually happens by God’s grace, we may
be able to respond like Christ.
On
one occasion Jesus answered a question of a high priest, the temple guard did
not like the way he answered so he slaps Jesus across the face. “Is that the
way to answer the high priest?” he demanded. Jesus did not hit him back instead
replied, “If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. But if I’m speaking the
truth, why are you beating me?”
Finally,
at the cross he offered up a prayer of forgiveness saying, “Father, forgive
them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34. Luke captures this
prayer of Jesus for his enemies, to show us what Jesus preached; he also
practiced and expects all those who belong to his New Community to do the same.
Someone
actually slapping on our face can be a very rare experience. But we all may
have encountered, “Slap in the face situations.” Slap in the face means: an unexpected rejection or affront. Rebuff, snub,
insult, put-down, humiliation, a blow to one's pride.” In the biblical context, a “literal slap” on
the face is actually an insult and humiliation.
Jesus
tells the believers in his new community how to respond to such insults. Luke
6:22-23 “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock
you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.
When
that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in
heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same
way.” The essence of Jesus’ New Community is love. This love is manifested by responding
to personal insult and injustice, not with retaliation or even passive
endurance, but with positive and aggressive acts of goodness designed to redeem
the offenders. That brings us to another important aspect of Christ’s community
which is affectionately called, “The Golden Rule.”
II.
THE GOLDEN RULE.
Vs,31
“Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” In Mathew 7:12, it reads, “Do to others
whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is
taught in the law and the prophets.” Some earlier Jewish teachers offered this
principle of wisdom, and it is recognized in many cultures and religions in one
form or another as, The Golden Rule.
The
implied meaning was often in the negative form. In simple terms: If you don’t
want others do bad things to you, you don’t do bad things to them. But whereas Jesus
stated it in positive form which sums up his teaching up to this point. When we
are kind, loving, gentle, generous, and accepting of strangers and all people
including our enemies, because we wanted to be treated that way, we are
following what is taught in the law and by the prophets.
In
closing: Jesus formed a New Community, a community of love and acceptance of
all people everywhere. All those who received, Christ’s mercy and forgiveness
through repentance of their sins now belong to that community. For some reason
if you feel like you are outside of this Jesus’ New Community, today you can
belong to it by accepting Jesus’ offer of forgiveness of your sins. When you do
that, together we can live lives that are not retaliatory but full of love,
humility and forgiveness. Let’s go out and become the agents of God’s love and
mercy just as our heavenly father who has been compassionate and merciful
towards us.” Amen!
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/14747/forgiveness-for-others-by-a-todd-coget?ref=TextIllustrationSerps
